July 2009 Archives
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July 31, 2009
Blog Headline Of The Day Weak Week
When the data is weak, there's always the internet poll to prop it up....
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Posted by Duane Smith at 1:36 PM
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The TLG® Canon Online
The TLG® Canon of Greek Authors and Works in now online and not behind a fee wall. I missed this a couple of weeks ago. This is a very valuable tool. It would be oh so nice if the whole...Read all of "The TLG® Canon Online "
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:32 PM
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July 30, 2009
July 2009 ZA Online
The July 2009 issue of the Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie is now online. In addition to the book reviews, this issue has the following three articles. Jean-Jacques Glassner, "Écrire des livres à l'époque paléo-babylonienne: le traité d'extispicine" Rukiye...Read all of "July 2009 ZA Online"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:58 PM
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July 29, 2009
The 72nd Anthropology Carnival
Four Stone Hearth #72 is up at A Hot Cup of Joe and it's a birthday party too. Go see the anthropological treats that Carl Feagans celebrates. And wish him a happy birthday while you're there....Read all of "The 72nd Anthropology Carnival"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:26 AM
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July 28, 2009
Their Life Is, Ah, Err, Excrement
Normally when I engage in wild, irresponsible, speculation, it concerns the possibility that an Akkadian or Ugaritic motif may lurk behind a Hebrew text. Today's wild speculation concerns the possibility that Akkadian lurks behind an Akkadian text. Not surprisingly, the...Read all of "Their Life Is, Ah, Err, Excrement"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:15 AM
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July 26, 2009
Nothing Escapes His Heat
Going back to at least 1906 and Briggs' commentary on the Psalms scholars have considered Psalm 19:5c-7 an echo of a hymn to the god Shamash. Following the JPS translation, these lines read, He placed in them a tent for...Read all of "Nothing Escapes His Heat"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:00 AM
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July 25, 2009
The Order of Things
Yesterday Dan Rabinowitz posted a very interesting discussion of the peh - ayin order in acrostics and ancient abecedaries by Mitchell First. You'll find it at Tradition Seforim Blog. Even with a few of nitpicks, this is very good stuff....Read all of "The Order of Things"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:40 PM
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July 24, 2009
Massebot And All Those Gods and Goddesses
John Anderson at Hesed we 'emet has an abnormally interesting discussion of massebot and gods and other things too fierce to mention here. He asks many of the correct questions. It's too bad no one has definitive answers of the...Read all of "Massebot And All Those Gods and Goddesses"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:07 PM
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July 22, 2009
Twainical Archaeology
I was looking around for some abnormal archaeological doings when I found that archaeologists were digging in Mark Twain's old stomping grounds, indeed a place where he lectured a couple of times, Thomas Maguire's Opera House in Virginia City. “Maguire...Read all of "Twainical Archaeology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:59 PM
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July 21, 2009
On Becoming A Criminal
Peter Salwen pointed out his 2005 piece on a few letters from Mark Twain's daughter, Jean Clemens, and his sister-in-law, Susan Crane, to Millard Sewall and his daughter Grace. First Samuel and then his whole family had rented rooms in...Read all of "On Becoming A Criminal"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:53 PM
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July 20, 2009
Dripping Away My Time
We have a rather sophisticated drip irrigation system that delivers measured amounts of water in a scheduled manner to each individual plant in Shirley's garden. You can see the small tube with a flow control terminator under a rather young...Read all of "Dripping Away My Time"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:31 PM
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July 18, 2009
Did You See The News Last Night?
If between 1962 and 1981 you asked anyone in the US that question, they knew exactly what news you meant. That was true independent of what news they had actually watched the night before. Walter Cronkite, dead at 92....Read all of "Did You See The News Last Night?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:28 AM
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July 17, 2009
New Blog - Sects and Violence in the Ancient World
Steve Wiggins is a "part-time academic, compulsive reader, sometime editor, dangerously curious, failed priest" who has a new blog, Sects and Violence in the Ancient World. He is also an Ugaritite or an Ugaritan or an Ugaritiyu or maybe just...Read all of "New Blog - Sects and Violence in the Ancient World"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:54 AM
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July 16, 2009
On Not Thinking About Gods
From Alun Salt at "The increasingly Inaccurately Named Archaeoastronomy Weblog." Not only do I go days without thinking about gods, I also go for days not thinking about not thinking about gods. I do think about gods for hours each...Read all of "On Not Thinking About Gods"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:51 PM
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Four Stone Hearth #71 at Neuroanthropology
The "Australiana edition" of Four Stone Hearth is up at Neuroanthropology. Greg Downey has done a great job of bringing together the most recent anthropology posts of abnormal interest. These carnivals always direct me to places I have never been...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth #71 at Neuroanthropology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:43 AM
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July 15, 2009
A Duck Rimmed Chalice from Tell es-Safi
Aren Maeir provided us with a series of pictures recounting the excavation of a rather strange vessel, among a group of vessels, at his Tell es-Safi excavation. In addition to having ducks on the rim, he describes it as a...Read all of "A Duck Rimmed Chalice from Tell es-Safi"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:52 PM
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Good Enough For Me
I'm in another footnote. But you might have a little problem with the reference. Here's note 104 from chapter 1 of Leo Perdue's The Sword and the Stylus: An Introduction to Wisdom in the Age of Empires. Nougayrol, "Sagesse," Ugaritica...Read all of "Good Enough For Me"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:49 AM
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July 14, 2009
Archaeomalacology
I'm not completely sure why, but Aydin Örstan always makes me smile when he announces that the latest issue of The Archaeo+Malacology Group Newsletter is online. For one thing, it seems abnormal in an interesting sort of way. For another,...Read all of "Archaeomalacology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:36 PM
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Psammetichus I's Fortress Unearthed in Egypt, Again
Here's a snippet from the Discover Channel article, Egyptian archaeologists digging near the Suez Canal have discovered the remains of what is believed to be the largest fortress in the eastern Delta, Egypt's Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, announced. Located...Read all of "Psammetichus I's Fortress Unearthed in Egypt, Again"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:32 AM
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Comment Moderation Is On
Beginning midmorning yesterday, Abnormal Interests has received spam comments at the rate of several dozen an hour. The storm continues. Because of the way they are designed, my spam filter catches only a very few of these spam comments. Therefore,...Read all of "Comment Moderation Is On"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:07 AM
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July 13, 2009
Ed Brayton Is Correct
"Say Goodbye to Free Speech in Ireland" or anywhere else that adopts a law even close to this, 36. Publication or utterance of blasphemous matter. (1) A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence...Read all of "Ed Brayton Is Correct"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:04 AM
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July 12, 2009
No News Here
Bad language could be good for you, a new study shows. For the first time, psychologists have found that swearing may serve an important function in relieving pain. [snip] Although cursing is notoriously decried in the public debate, researchers are...
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:37 PM
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Be Careful
It's always been good advice. I'm currently reading through a rather sizable literature, ancient and modern, on namburbi rituals. These apotropaic rites, as far as I can tell, always feature one or more prayers. Sometimes, only the prayer survives. These...
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:28 PM
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July 11, 2009
Five Influential Primary Sources
Here we go again. James Spinti wants me to join the five influential primary sources parade. Perhaps if I had purchased more books from Eisenbrauns I could have avoided this. While I had a small problem transcribing it, here is...Read all of "Five Influential Primary Sources"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:18 PM
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July 10, 2009
Have A Snake Problem? Try Prayer
What follows is my translation of a prayer to Shamash. The original, written in the neo-Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, is found all by itself on tablet VAT 5 in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin collection or if you prefer The...Read all of "Have A Snake Problem? Try Prayer"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:25 PM
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July 8, 2009
I'm Not Sure What I Think About This
President Barack Obama is choosing an influential scientist who helped unravel the human genetic code _ and is known for finding common ground between belief in God and science _ to head The National Institutes of Health. Obama called Dr....Read all of "I'm Not Sure What I Think About This"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:23 PM
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Motivational Reading
My wife is a voracious reader. She reads three or four books a week, mostly fiction but recently she has taken up ancient Greek history and culture. She also belongs to a book club sponsored by our local public library....Read all of "Motivational Reading"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:21 PM
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July 6, 2009
Epigraphy By The Numbers
This post is really a follow up on yesterday's effort. You might want to take a look at that one to see what this one is all about. I was able to get hold of Michail Panagopoulos, et al, "Automatic...Read all of "Epigraphy By The Numbers"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:41 AM
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July 5, 2009
It Looks Like I Joined the Wrong Club
At least today, my SBL membership isn't much help. During the time I made a living off my Electrical Engineering undergraduate degree, I never joined the IEEE (an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the "I triple...Read all of "It Looks Like I Joined the Wrong Club"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:03 PM
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July 3, 2009
Evangelism As A Reality Show
Evangelism to what religion? In Turkey, like the United States, it doesn't seem to matter all that much as long as nonbelievers convert to some religion or other. Here's a couple of snippets from the Guardian. "The project aims to...Read all of "Evangelism As A Reality Show"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:44 PM
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July 2, 2009
Four Stone Hearth 70 Is Up
It's that carnival time of month and now the seventieth edition of Four Stone Hearth is up at afarensis. That Australopithecus guy has done a wonderful job bringing together a host of things anthropological. It's amazing that someone over 2.9...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth 70 Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:33 AM
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July 1, 2009
Biblical Studies Carnival 43 Is Up
Biblical Studies Carnival 43 is up at kata ta biblia. Pat McCullough has done a great job bringing it all together this month. He has also had a little fun. Go unroll the recently discovered Apocalypse of Eve and you'll...Read all of "Biblical Studies Carnival 43 Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:27 PM
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